After a challenge by the ACLU, the Orange County supervisors voted to remove a 20-minute cap on total time for public comment. They kept the restriction approved in 2016 allowing only one three-minute comment for each person rather than three comments. (The Orange County Register, April 12, 2017, by Jordan Graham)
A Mill Valley lawyer has charged that Marin County has not followed the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, in failing to report settlements of personal injury lawsuits. The county contends that it is standard practice to refrain from reporting settlements when the other side is the last to agree. (Marin Independent Journal, April 28, 2017, by Richard Halstead)
When three Atwater City Council members met at a restaurant the last week in April, several community members protested the meeting as a possible violation of the Brown Act. One of the council said there was no violation since the meeting was social and no city business was discussed. (Merced Sun-Star, April 27, 2017, by Thaddeus Miller)
The San Francisco Ethics Commission found itself involved in a dispute over the Brown Act when one of the city’s planning commissioners took a job with SPUR, a think tank that sometimes takes positions siding with pro-development interests, but agreed to stay on until Mayor Ed Lee appointed a replacement. The commission was scheduled to vote on the percentage of affordable housing builders would be required to include in their developments. The dispute arose when the ethics commission voted to send a letter asking Christine Johnson to recuse herself from the vote without the matter appearing on the agenda for the meeting. (San Francisco Chronicle, April 26, 2017, by J.K. Dineen)
An Antioch city council member boycotted a close session of the council to protest the release of information to the public under consideration in the session. In March another council member complained that information had been leak beforehand from a closed session on terminating the contract with the city manager. (East County Today, April 25, 2017, by ECT)
Watchdogs are challenging the San Diego County Water Authority over its proliferating closed sessions. Of particular concern are the closed meetings of its four delegates to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The authority claims that the delegates do not constitute a standing committee that would be required to meeting Brown Act requirements for agendas and open meetings. (The San Diego Union-Tribune, April 21, 2017, by James DeHaven)
Riverside’s board of ethics has been reviewing a 2014 investigation of two city council members. The board is concerned that the city council should have reported decisions about the investigation made in closed sessions. (The Press-Enterprise, April 21, 2017, by Alicia Robinson)
National City is facing legal action over its actions in a February meeting when the city council voted against a resolution making the city a welcoming city for immigrants and refugees but voted for a substitute resolution affirming that National City supports “all residents and visitors.” A Chula Vista board of ethics member and the San Diegans for Open Government sent the council a letter claiming Brown Act violations in not allowing public comment on the substitute resolution. (The Star News, April 15, 2017, by Robert Moreno)
The Solano County District Attorney determined that the Montezuma Fire Protection District violated the Brown Act in 2016 when it discussed disciplining a firefighter in open session without putting the discussion on the agenda or informing the firefighter in advance. The DA also said the commission failed to report actions from a closed session on the matter. (Daily Republic, April 13, 2017, by Todd R. Hansen)
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted not to investigate whether they violated the Brown Act in a March 7 meeting where the agenda listed an update that turned into a vote on shifting financial responsibility for a groundwater basin from landowners to tax payers. They also conducted public discussion on the shift and voted again on the issue, reaffirming their March 7 vote. (KSBY, April 4, 2017, by Brooke Martell)